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So, I am looking to buy a breadboard for my raspberry pi, and I was just wondering one question. There are a lot of different boards from different companies, is there a certain kind that must be used with a raspberry pi, or are they pretty much universal?

Jdw136
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Breadboards are fairly universal and differ mainly in size 400 (half size)

half size breadboard

and 830 (full size)

full size breadboard

holes or a multiple thereof

large breadboard.

Some have only a single power rail on each side, like this one,

breadboard with single power rail per side

while most have two per side (indicated by the red and blue lines on the full-size board above).

As a beginner, I would not recommend micro breadboards, like these

micro breadboards

You will also need a selection of jumper wires. depending on the Pi and the style of pins it has, you will need either male to female or male to male jumper wires

mm jumper wires

mf jumper wires

You may also want to consider a Pi Cobbler from Adafruit.

Adafruit Pi Cobbler

it can make connecting the GPIO pins to the breadboard easier, and if using a Pi with male headers it allows using the more common male to male jumper wires.

I don't know exactly what you mean by compatibility or why you think that they would be incompatible but all of the above (excluding the micro breadboards) will work with any model Pi.

You may also want to read how to use a breadboard.

Steve Robillard
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  • But does the half size effect compatibility at all. Is the only real difference the size and the number of holes? – Jdw136 Mar 03 '18 at 01:51
  • @Jdw136 I have updated my answer, but why do you think they would be incompatible? The only difference between half size and full-size breadboards is the length and number of holes. Please also see my last link: how to use a breadboard. – Steve Robillard Mar 03 '18 at 02:07
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    @Jdw136, this shows the construction ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5JlaC9m8Go – jsotola Mar 03 '18 at 03:42
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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQJhe9n_ug – jsotola Mar 03 '18 at 03:44
  • Be aware that breadboards are terrible when it comes to any high speed communication (I2C,SPI,UART). You can run into a lot of problems and have trouble deciding the cause. There it can matter if you get a more expensive one as it might have better contacts. But for blinking LEDs or wiring up switches, they are all universal. – Chad G Mar 03 '18 at 06:49